Photo: Glenn Ford · CC BY-SA 3.0Crime per resident in Petawawa runs lower than in 96% of Canadian towns
Its 3 neighbours with figures all record more crime per resident. On crime the police covering Petawawa reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades A+ for safety: #74 of 862 in Ontario. Each year brought 9.6 violent incidents and 11.4 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (12.0 and 30.5 in the typical town its size). Against usual levels of 89.4 and 56, violent and non-violent offences here reach 42.6 and 24.2.
Statistics Canada, police-reported crime, 2023–2025 means. The index weighs each crime by its seriousness; rates are incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What stands out about safety in Petawawa
Under the Ontario norm
Set among Ontario’s towns, whose median is 56.2, Petawawa scores 29.3. Towns its size ↓
A lower index than most towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Petawawa is 4th of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. Towns its size ↓
More crime solved
Weighted by seriousness, 43% of crime in Petawawa ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 69% of violent crime and 25% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people the figure is 33%. Questions ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Petawawa’s grade
The grade weighs the Crime Severity Index and its violent half, averaged over 2023–2025, against every Canadian town and city neighbourhood of 1,000 people or more.
Its place: #74 of 862 in Ontario and #94 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Which crimes make up Petawawa’s figures
Break and enter and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 3 | 0.2 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 2.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 0.7 | 0.04 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.04 | — |
| Other violent violations | 4.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 11.7 | 0.7 | 28% |
| Possession of stolen property | 0.3 | 0.02 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 4 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft over $5,000 | 4.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 48.3 | 2.8 | 37% |
| Mischief | 40 | 2.4 | 27% |
| Weapons violations | 4 | 0.2 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 41 | 2.4 | 65% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 5.7 | 0.3 | 35% |
| Drug violations | 4.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Impaired driving | 16 | 0.9 | 100% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0 | 0 | — |
Statistics Canada’s violation groups for the whole police service or detachment, incidents a year its own. Cleared: incidents solved by a charge or otherwise, as a share of those reported.
Incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 means, against the typical figure for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
By its index, Petawawa stands 4th of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quispamsis New Brunswick | 20,240 | 20 | 27.9 | A+ |
| 2 | Bridgenorth Ontario | 20,628 | 21.2 | 23.1 | A+ |
| 3 | Oak Bay British Columbia | 18,626 | 26.7 | 23.4 | A+ |
| 4 | Petawawa Ontario | 19,606 | 29.3 | 42.6 | A+ |
| 5 | Deux-Montagnes Quebec | 18,516 | 30.8 | 56.8 | A+ |
| 6 | Port Hope Ontario | 18,446 | 31.2 | 36.4 | A |
| 7 | Central Saanich British Columbia | 18,184 | 34.7 | 33.1 | A |
| 8 | Loyalist Ontario | 19,761 | 35.7 | 52.3 | A |
| … | |||||
| 10 | Kemptville Ontario | 19,733 | 37.9 | 52.9 | A |
| … | |||||
| 14 | Bracebridge Ontario | 18,676 | 46.7 | 69.2 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 17 | Port Elgin Ontario | 18,167 | 50.1 | 68.5 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Port Alberni British Columbia | 19,671 | 200.1 | 248.2 | D |
The 40 Canadian towns of 2,500+ people closest in population; city neighbourhoods, city totals and reserves are left out. Towns on one police service or detachment share its index.
The Canadian towns closest to Petawawa in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Around 160 violent incidents a year on Petawawa’s police records (2023–2025)
Violent incidents per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Property crimes per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Statistics Canada counts actual incidents; those police record as unfounded are listed apart and kept out of its crime rates and severity index. Each incident is filed under its most serious violation, which the survey sets partly by the maximum penalty.
And about 190 property crimes, plus 86 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
In Petawawa, down 13% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year fell in the middle, 2024, at 31.1; 2025 was the lightest, at 26.4. Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town its size moved from 69.5 to 60.
Every year as a table
| Year | Petawawa | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 26.4 | 60 |
| 2024 | 31.1 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 30.2 | 69.5 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Petawawa, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Crime in the places around Petawawa
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petawawa | 19,606 | 29.3 | 42.6 | A+ |
| Laurentian Valley | 9,714 | 36.3 | 44.5 | A |
| Pembroke | 15,479 | 112.1 | 153.4 | C− |
| L'Isle-aux-Allumettes | 1,413 | 55.7 | 83.9 | B |
Petawawa has the lowest index of the places around it.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Reading the number. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
- Solved cases. Police clear an incident by charging someone, recommending a charge, or closing it another way. The rate weighs serious crimes more, as the index does.
- How serious, not how safe. Statistics Canada builds the index from every crime police record, weighted by how seriously the courts treat it, and divides by the population. It adds a warning of its own: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Petawawa
Is Petawawa safe?
The short answer is an index of 29.3 for Petawawa (2023–2025), built from 9.6 violent incidents and 11.4 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. Set that beside 66, the median for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
What is the most common crime in Petawawa?
Police record fraud most, 5 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of assault (4.1) and other Criminal Code offences (3.5).
Is crime going up in Petawawa?
Down 13%: 30.2 in 2023, 26.4 in 2025.
How much of Petawawa’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 43% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (33% for the typical Canadian town its size); split up, that is 69% of violent and 25% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
Its own police: the service or contract that covers Petawawa and nowhere else.
Source: Statistics Canada, police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025 (Statistics Canada Open Licence); TownRatings calculation.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, police services (tables 35-10-0186 to 0190, 0061, 0063, 0064), 2023–2025 · Statistics Canada, Incident-based crime statistics by detailed violations, police services (35-10-0178 to 0185) · Safety Grade: TownRatings calculation. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).